I am doing a short series of posts called, "Great Influences." Basically, I plan to give list of five or ten articles, books, preachers, churches, and historical figures that have been formative in my understanding of Christianity. I hope that some of these influences may be helpful to you as well. Today, I will start with articles. Without further ado...
Father-Hunger and Pastoral Ministry by Tim Bayly (link)This article has become the cornerstone to my understanding of what lies at the heart of pastoral ministry. Pastor Bayly explains:
“God cares about the bonding of fathers and children and his servants ought to share this commitment. The recovery of fatherhood in the church, home, and society should not simply be ceded to social scientists or Dr. James Dobson; rather, it must be central to the strategic agenda of the Church as she witnesses to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” ‘What is fatherhood and why does it matter? The subject is inexhaustible, but let’s focus on two aspects of fatherhood—the fatherhood of God over all creation and that of pastors and elders in the Church, the household of faith.”Gospel-Centrality by Tim Keller (link)
My understanding of the gospel is definitely indebted to Tim Keller’s short article. He convinced me that the gospel is to be absolutely central in the life of the individual believer and the local church. Keller asserts:
“We never “get beyond the gospel” in our Christian life to something more “advanced”. The gospel is not the first “step” in a “stairway” of truths, rather, it is more like the “hub” in a “wheel” of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A to Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make all progress in the kingdom.”The Generation That Won't Grow Up by Albert Mohler (link)
A church rises and falls upon the back of its young men. Therefore, understanding the present crisis of responsibility and “delayed adulthood” that defines this generation of men is of the utmost importance for any pastor/church planter. Dr. Mohler’s article help clarify the points that I needed to attack as I called men to a mature faith. He writes:
“Looking at this from a biblical perspective, the most tragic aspect of this development is the fact that these young people are refusing to enter into the adult experience and adult responsibilities that is their Christian calling. The delay of marriage will exact an undeniable social toll in terms of delayed parenthood, even smaller families, and more self-centered parents. The experiences of marriage and raising children are important parts of learning the adult experience and finding one's way into the deep responsibilities and incalculable rewards of genuine adulthood.”Preaching As Though We Had Enemies by Stanley Hauerwas (link)
Professor Hauerwas’ article reinforced my belief that we out to preach as if we were engage in a violent battle. Much of modern preaching is nothing more than pragmatic feel-good fluff that fails in calling God’s people to repentance and action. Hauerwas nails it when he concludes:
“God has entrusted us, His Church, with the best story in the world. With great ingenuity we have managed, with the aid of much theory, to make that story boring as hell. Theories about meaning are what you get when you forget that the Church and Christians are embattled by subtle enemies who win easily by denying that any war exists. God knows what He is doing in this strange time between "worlds," but hopefully He is inviting us again to engage the enemy through the godly weapons of preaching and sacrament. I pray that we will have the courage and humility to fight the enemy in Walter Rauschenbusch's wonderful words, with "no sword but the truth." According to Rauschenbusch, "such truth reveals lies and their true nature, as when Satan was touched by the spear of Ithuriel. It makes injustice quail on its throne, chafe, sneer, abuse, hurl its spear, tender its goal, and finally offer to serve as truth's vassal. But the truth that can do such things is not an old woman wrapped in the spangled robes of earthly authority, bedizened with golden ornaments, the marks of honor given by injustice in turn for services rendered, and muttering dead formulas of the past. The truth that can serve God as the mightiest of his archangels is robed only in love, her weighty limbs unfettered by needless weight, calm-browed, her eyes terrible with beholding God." May our eyes and our preaching be just as terrible. Indeed, may we preach so truthfully that people will call us terrorists. If you preach that way you will never again have to worry about whether a sermon is "meaningful."The Therapeutic Gospel by David Powlison (link)
A large part of pastoral ministry is skillfully subverting false gospels and the local/national idols of a people. Powlison perfectly defines the predominant false gospel that is spew forth from a so many pulpits in the space of just a dozen paragraphs. He writes:
[The therapeutic gospel] is structured to give people what they want, not to change what they want. It centers exclusively around the welfare of man and temporal happiness. It discards the glory of God in Christ. It forfeits the narrow, difficult road that brings deep human flourishing and eternal joy. This therapeutic gospel accepts and covers for human weaknesses, seeking to ameliorate the most obvious symptoms of distress. It makes people feel better. It takes human nature as a given, because human nature is too hard to change. It does not want the King of Heaven to come down. It does not attempt to change people into lovers of God, given the truth of who Jesus is, what he is like, what he does.
